Ice confections, such as ice lollies, popsicles and the like are popular products, and are especially enjoyed by children. These products are typically made from water ice, fruit ice or milk ice, rather than from ice cream, and therefore generally contain low levels of fat. However, they nonetheless contain relatively high amounts of sugar.
Parents are concerned about damage to their children's teeth as a result of consuming foods which contain sugars. Moreover, the incidence of obesity and the number of people considered overweight in countries where a so-called Western diet is adopted has drastically increased over the last decade. Since obesity and being overweight are generally known to be associated with a variety of diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and arteriosclerosis, this increase is a major health concern for the medical world and for individuals alike. Furthermore, being overweight is considered by the majority of the Western population as unattractive. This has led to an increasing interest by consumers in their health and has created a demand for products that help to reduce or control daily caloric intake. In particular, the importance of limiting the content of sugars in a healthy diet has recently been highlighted by a Joint WHO/FOA Expert Committee (see “Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases”—Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation, WHO Technical Report Series 916, WHO, Geneva, 2003).
Lowering the sugar content of ice confections results in products that are not sweet. They are also very hard as a result of the low level of freezing point depressants. This is especially so for quiescently frozen ice confections because quiescent freezing results in large ice crystals. There have been previous attempts to formulate water ices having reduced sugar content whilst retaining their palatability. U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,441 discloses dietetic frozen desserts which have essentially all the sugar present in conventional products replaced by a non-saccharide sweeteners (e.g. aspartame and sugar alcohols) and bulking agents. Unfortunately, however, replacement of the sugars in ice confections with non-saccharide sweeteners results in products with an artificial or even unpleasant taste and/or aftertaste. Furthermore, certain non-saccharide sweeteners such as sugar alcohols can cause digestive discomfort in some individuals. Thus, there remains a need for palatable ice confections which contain reduced amounts of sugars.